Galway & Inis Mór

What an awesome weekend! Our trip to the west coast started around 7am on Saturday. Two of my suitemates had friends coming to visit for the week, so we headed to airport to pick them up and catch the bus to Galway. Smooth bus ride, we got to see some beautiful scenery along the way through the window. The sun was out the entire way there, and decided to stick around for a while after we arrived. We stayed at the Kinlay House, the same hostel where we stayed a month ago with Caroline's tour. The six of us walked through the downtown, stopping to check out the farmer's market and eat a few homemade doughnuts (yum!) before venturing to the pier to check out the bay. We walked along the small beach, and even played fetch with a black lab wandering along the water. Of course, we are in Ireland, so it did sprinkle a little, but the views were spectacular regardless.I decided to buy a Claddagh ring at the Thomas Dillon Claddagh museum. It's the only place in the world where each ring is engraved as a "TD Original." Family friends gave me a Claddagh necklace before leaving for Ireland (Thanks Aunt Donna!), and I thought it was a great purchase to commemorate my time spent studying here. We ate dinner at Monroe's, another one of our favorite spots in Galway. Dinner was great, and I think we were all happy to have a hot meal after a day of traveling and exploring. We went to two of the local pubs, the King's Head and Taffe's, downtown. We had a great night in Galway and heard some of the most original Irish music since we've been here (including spoons!).After grabbing a quick breakfast on Sunday morning, we bought tickets for the ferry to Inis Mór, the largest of the three Aran Islands. The bay was pretty rough, and we had a fun time walking on the ferry's deck checking out the views.
While it's the largest of the Aran Islands, Inis Mór only has a population of about 800. I'd say it's safe to say everyone knows everyone. We checked into the Kilronan Hostel, dropped off our stuff and then headed to the only grocery store on the islands to grab sandwiches and snacks. We'd been told the best way to see the island is to rent bikes and ride along the coastal roads: it's true. I think we figured out that we probably biked close to 10 miles, stopping along the way to take photos of the landscape and water. While stopped eating lunch, it started to drizzle and we saw thick, gray storm clouds heading our way. But after thinking about how far we'd come and how much more we wanted to see, we kept riding and eventually the sun broke through the clouds again. Kilmurvey Beach Look closely: I'm on the edge!

Dun Aonghasa and one of the many rainbows we saw! While looking for the wormhole, someone found this cut out in the cliffs where the waves hit the coastline and cause a huge splash. Fearful of getting hit, here's a picture of me running away from the water. Another rainbow Here's proof we made it back to return the bikes before dark.

We ate dinner at the American bar, one of three or four bars/restaurants on the island. After dinner and a drink each, we were all completely exhausted and headed back to the hostel. We caught the 7am ferry this morning back to Galway. Below is the gorgeous sunrise we got to on our way back to the mainland. We hopped on a bus around 10am and made it back to DCU with time to spare before our 2pm history lecture. All in all, it was another great weekend and I'm completely exhausted!